The ratings numbers are in and tvN new drama “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” is doing well!
On June 20, tvN aired the first episode of the highly anticipated drama “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay.” According to Nielsen Korea, the first episode of the new drama scored an average nationwide rating of 6.1% and a peak of 7%.
“It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” was the top rated drama across all cable channels and public broadcast networks too for its timeslot. It’s also doing tremendously well among the key demographic ages of 2- to 49 with average ratings of 4.3% and a peak of 5.1%.
Meanwhile, SBS new drama “Backstreet Rookie” saw a slight increase in ratings for its second day. According to Nielsen Korea, it scored average nationwide ratings of 3.7% and 6.8%, for the 1st half it was a decrease from the night before in which it rated 4.8% for the first half, however, for its second half, it was an increase from the night before.
Have you seen the premiere of “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay”? what did you think of it?
My Personal Thoughts
“Backstreet Rookie” was okay in the second episode. It looks like they have seen the criticism and toned it down a lot, the pressure for its controversial scenes will be felt this week as more mainstream Korean news outlets picks up the story, it will remain a question whether the drama will bounce back next week or remain stagnant.
This particular time slot usually does tremendously well for SBS. “The King: Eternal Monarch” used to air in the same timeslot and it did well at the beginning but progressively scored lower ratings as the drama continued. Whether “Backstreet Rookie” will carry out the same trend or not remains a question.
So far, I’ve seen a lot of negative press regarding “Backstreet Rookie” for the 1st episode and it’s honestly understandable even if you don’t agree with it. Netizens lose their shit over smaller issues and “Backstreet Rookie” had a lot of red flags. I still don’t understand why the webtoon was adapted into a drama honestly.
“It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” premiere was fine, it wasn’t out of this world to me and actually surprised me by how calm it was, but if the drama begins to gain momentum in terms of plot development, I think it will soar from there and become one of the highest rated kdramas for tvN this year.
The director behind “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” is the same one for Song Hye Kyo’s “Encounter” which was painfully slow in my opinion, so I am slightly skeptic about the pace but it’s too early to fully judge. We have to wait at least 3 more episodes to see if it’s going to be similar or not. From a plot POV, the drama is a lot more promising, I hope it doesn’t fall pry for the clichés and tropes.
